autiful ruins of the temple of
Hercules, buried in the ground, according to Pliny, and with the low
island which supports it; and a few minutes later we were floating on
the Atlantic.

CHAPTER VIII

VIGO BAY

The Atlantic! a vast sheet of water whose superficial area covers
twenty-five millions of square miles, the length of which is nine
thousand miles, with a mean breadth of two thousand seven hundred--an
ocean whose parallel winding shores embrace an immense circumference,
watered by the largest rivers of the world, the St. Lawrence, the
Mississippi, the Amazon, the Plata, the Orinoco, the Niger, the
Senegal, the Elbe, the Loire, and the Rhine, which carry water from the
most civilised, as well as from the most savage, countries!
Magnificent field of water, incessantly ploughed by vessels of every
nation, sheltered by the flags of every nation, and which terminates in
those two terrible points so dreaded by mariners, Cape Horn and the
Cape of Tempests.

The Nautilus was piercing the water with its sharp spur, after having
accomplished nearly ten thousand leagues in three months and a half, a
distance greater than the great circle of the earth. Where were we
going now, and what was reserved for the future? The Nautilus, leaving
the Straits of Gibraltar, had gone far out. It returned to the surface
of the waves, and our daily walks on the platform were restored to us.

I mounted at once, accompanied by Ned Land and Conseil. At a distance
of about twelve miles, Cape St. Vincent was dimly to be seen, forming
the south-western point of the Spanish peninsula. A strong southerly
gale was blowing. The sea was swollen and billowy; it made the
Nautilus rock violently. It was almost impossible to keep one's foot
on the platform, which the heavy rolls of the sea beat over every
instant. So we descended after inhaling some mouthfuls of fresh air.

I returned to my room, Conseil to his cabin; but the Canadian, with a
preoccupied air, followed me. Our rapid passage across the
Mediterranean had not allowed him to put his project into execution,
and he could not help showing his disappointment. When the door of my
room was shut, he sat down and looked at me silently.

"Friend Ned," said I, "I understand you; but you cannot reproach
yourself. To have attempted to leave the Nautilus under the
circumstances would have been folly."

Ned Land did not answer; his compressed lips and frowning brow showed
with him t